Last month we featured the Carpet Workshop, a income generating project that trains women on carpet and Kilim weaving. We we were eager to learn more about their designer and supervisor Shefaly and caught up with her recently.
I have been working with the Carpet Workshop over the last 12 years and started here in 2004. I went through a six month training course in carpet weaving and enjoyed it. I felt that this was skill and job that didn’t have too many challenges.
I first received training from Br. Erick (a Taize brother who developed this project through the Protibondhi Community Center), and continued under his instruction as I developed my weaving skills. I experimented with different colours while working on my technique. After receiving this initial training, I began to look at magazines, design books, nature and use my own creativity in creating designs for the carpets. I make my designs on paper and on the computer and make sure to keep all my designs.
Sometimes I experiment with new designs using fabric, plastic and jute. I have never tried the traditional carpet designs but like to create designs with animals such a bird or fish and have also used designs that incorporate boats, trees, hills and other scenes from nature.
I am now a supervisor at the Carpet Workshop and teach and train others in weaving. Many of the women we employ are either deaf and/or mute and communicate via sign language. I very much enjoy my work, both designing and teaching and training the women. I’m a proud of the fact that I can now teach others how to weave and produce carpets and Kilim.
For more information about the Carpet Workshop and the Protibondhi Community Center visit: http://www.pccbd.org/index.php